Army veteran Billy Brent discusses his idea to use smart technology to protect schools. Brent proposes that guns be manufactured with a trigger lock that can be activated via GPS if it enters a 1000 foot "safe area" radius of a school.
Gregg Pachkowski/gregg@pnj.com

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Veteran Billy Brent discusses his idea to use smart technology to protect schools at his home in Pensacola on Monday, March 12, 2018. Brent proposes that guns be manufactured with a trigger lock that can be activated via GPS if they enter within a 1,000-foot "safe area" radius of a school.(Photo: Gregg Pachkowski/gregg@pnj.com)Buy Photo

An Escambia County veteran believes that if all new firearms were required to have GPS tracking systems that disabled triggers around schools, the country could prevent school shootings.

Billy Brent, a Vietnam War veteran and longtime volunteer with First Tee of Northwest Florida, has spoken with both Escambia County Commissioner Grover Robinson and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office captains about his proposal.

He said he began thinking about how smart trigger technology could prevent violence at schools following the mass shooting in Parkland in which authorities said a gunman killed 17 students and faculty with an AR-15.

Some newer-model guns already have technology that includes GPS tracking, Brent said, and other models have smart triggers than can be locked if an unauthorized user tries to fire the weapon.

Brent proposed that if those ideas were combined, and all firearms were manufactured with mandatory GPS and trigger-locking technology, officials could use Geographic Information System mapping and recognize when a gun is within 1,000 feet of a school building and automatically disable that weapon.

It would be a long way off, but, Brent said, it’s worth investigating.

"You could do it for all weapons if the manufacturer could put the tag on the trigger, then if you tried to get it out it would break that trigger," he said.

Brent said the ECSO personnel he met with — including four captains and Chief Deputy Chip Simmons — brought up several reasons the technology may not work, including the length of time it would take before the majority of guns used that technology.

"If you started now you might stop two or three shootings, but you’ve got to start somewhere," Brent said.

ECSO spokeswoman Amber Southard said it's the agency's policy not to discuss school safety.

Commissioner Robinson said county and city governments are prohibited from making any local laws involving gun control, but he said he spoke with Brent about the county’s possible contribution to GIS mapping.

He said if the technology was feasible and some kind of trigger lock or GPS system was mandated by law, Escambia County could use GIS mapping to define the parameters of each school building that would determine when the trigger lock is activated.

"I have no idea whether it’s a feasible option and I don’t know how you solve all these problems, so I sent (Brent) on to people with more expertise at the Sheriff’s Office," he said. "But I said, 'Hey, any idea’s worth investigating.'"

Robinson said he also saw some flaws or drawbacks to the plan, particularly involving older weapons and grandfathering in new technology, but as far as the county is concerned, the GPS aspect can be easily done with their GIS team.

Brent said he has reached out to legislators to share his idea but has gotten no response yet. But he hopes if local law enforcement backs the idea, he might have more power in presenting to lawmakers.

Brent said his idea came from golf, when he realized the same system used to measure how far away the green is could be tweaked for public safety use.

"We have to start somewhere and we aren’t starting at all, so I figured I’d throw something out there that seems to be an easy and quick fix," Brent said. "Congress can pass a law to require all shop owners to put those tags in, just like we have recalls for cars."